Wednesday, October 17: Court of Appeals, Oral Argument In Albany, Albany, NY“The Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos, et al. v. New York City Police Department, et al.”, will have their case heard in the Court of Appeals, when attorney Nora Constance Marino, Esq., is scheduled to orally argue the case in the state’s highest court.

Geralyn Shukwit/Courtesy Rina Deych
A young Brooklyn man participating in a Kaporos tradition of slaughtering chickens to raise
money for local synagogues gives the finger to animal rights activist Rina Deych as she tries to
discourage members of the community from the practice.

These young chickens were rescued from a Kaporos ritual in Boro Park, Brooklyn, New York
on October 3, 2014. Despite being immobilized in transport crates without food or water,
here they are enjoying their lives full of energy, curiosity, friendliness and good cheer.
Video by Kurt Andernach, And-Hof Animal Sanctuary in upstate New York.

Chemers, a baby rooster, was rescued from Kaporos rituals in 2010. This photograph is one of 12 winning
photos published in the 2011 Chicken Run Rescue calendar (www.brittonclouse.com/chickenrunrescue).
Photo by Greg Straight Edge.

One day during Rosh Hashanah - the beginning of the Jewish New Year - a boy overhears the chickens in his village plan a strike. They are sick of being used for Kapores,
the custom practiced in his Russian village where live chickens are waved over everyone's heads to erase their bad deeds. "An end to Kapores!" the chickens chant as they flee the town.